Blue Jays 12, Red Sox 4: Toronto slugs its way to series win

Sunday

May 12, 2013 at 3:52 PM

BOSTON -- There would be no miracle this Mother's Day.

By TIM BRITTON

BOSTON -- There would be no miracle this Mother's Day.

Behind five home runs, the Blue Jays blitzed the Red Sox in a 12-4 win at Fenway Park on Sunday. Toronto took two of three in the weekend series, handing Boston its eighth loss in its last 10 games -- the same number the Red Sox accumulated in their first 28.

The skid has pushed the Sox from first place all the way down to third in the American League East.

"It was a tough day," manager John Farrell summarized succinctly.

Ryan Dempster laid his first egg of the season, getting rocked for five innings. Toronto slugged home runs in three consecutive innings off the right-hander, who hadn't given up three in a game since last May.

Jose Bautista started the barrage with a first-pitch homer leading off the third. That was fairly explicable; Dempster is generally tolerant of both first-pitch homers and solo shots.

One inning later, however, slumping utilityman Emilio Bonifacio took Dempster out to right field with a runner on, giving the Jays a five-run lead. The previous 13 home runs Dempster had allowed had all come without anyone on base, dating back to last August.

Edwin Encarnacion added another solo homer in the fifth on a 1-1 splitter up in the zone.

"They didn't miss any mistakes, that's for sure," catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "You're going to have days like that."

The Blue Jays had gotten on the board in a quieter fashion in the second, when Munenori Kawasaki singled through the right side with two outs to drive in two.

"The solo home runs, at the end of the day, those aren't what beat you. I didn't make good pitches to Bonifacio and Kawasaki," said Dempster. "They were two sliders that just hung up in the zone. I didn't have the slider I normally have."

Dempster allowed six runs on seven hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one. It was his worst start with the Red Sox.

During an otherwise strong start to his Boston tenure, Dempster has yielded nine home runs in eight starts -- tied for third in the American League.

"I was missing up a lot today -- more than I normally do," Dempster said. "I couldn't really pinpoint it. It would be good for a few hitters and then I'd get the ball up."

Things didn't improve when Boston's well-rested bullpen became involved; in fact, they deteriorated. Andrew Miller served up a long home run to the first batter he faced, Brett Lawrie. After Miller allowed a single and a walk, Clayton Mortensen came on and surrendered a two-run homer to Bautista that made it 10-1 in the sixth.

Toronto's five home runs were the most by a visitor at Fenway Park since the Yankees did it last April.

"They're obviously very capable of driving the ball out of the ballpark," Farrell said of the Jays. "That's the way their team is built."

Perhaps of greater concern is the state of the Red Sox offense. In a weekend series in which they faced a 39-year-old journeyman making his first start in two years, a veteran off to the worst start of his career and a call-up from Double-A, the Sox mustered one win and 11 runs.

On Sunday, Boston was limited to two runs by Chad Jenkins, making his first big-league appearance of the season. Jenkins allowed two runs on seven hits in five-plus.

The Red Sox again had no issues putting runners on; they reached base in eight of the nine frames. Boston, however, continued to labor with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-8. That's on the heels of an 0-for-11 performance on Saturday.

Dating back to their trip to Texas, Boston is 13-for-79 (.165) with runners in scoring position. Not surprisingly, the Sox are 2-8 in that stretch.

"We've got a number of guys dealing with frustration right now," Farrell said. "We're getting tested; there's no doubt about it."

Mike Napoli was the bright spot for the offense, collecting three hits including his seventh home run of the season.

Twitter: @TimBritton

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